Summer Caprese Salad with Fresh Corn
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Summer Corn Caprese Salad makes for a nice surprise and delicious way to entertain. This is a salad you serve with steak, a burger, grilled chicken, or take to a party. It can also be a great starter or a stand alone lunch. You can make this with fresh pesto or olive oil and fresh basil.
What is a Caprese Salad?
When we think of caprese salad, we think of fresh tomatoes with mozzarella, a bit of fresh basil and some form of vinaigrette. I usually only like olive oil, salt and pepper with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella, but topping with fresh corn is a summer game changer. And, for a summer corn caprese salad, you don’t have to cook the corn, which adds sweetness and texture.
Ingredients for Corn Caprese Salad
- Ripe Tomatoes (can be almost any kind as long as they are ripe, sweet, juicy)
- Fresh mozzarella or burrata
- Fresh basil (or pesto)
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Fresh Corn
- Salt, Pepper
I like to think of caprese salad as a salad that celebrates the tomato and I love how this summer corn caprese salad brings in a bit of summer corn.
In this blog post I wrote about my own personal rules for caprese salad, but feel free to make your own rules.
- Fresh tomatoes left sitting on counter, not refrigerated.
- Fresh mozzarella, not the yellow rubbery stuff sealed in plastic or burrata!
- Young, fruity extra virgin olive oil.
- Fresh herbs, traditionally basil (although dry herbs are acceptable).
- You can use freshly made pesto or pistou instead of olive oil and basil.
- No onion. I think raw onion becomes completely overbearing in a caprese salad.
- Salt, a must, which makes tomatoes come alive.
Pesto/Pistou Variations
The difference between pesto and pistou is basically the addition of nuts and cheese. A pistou is easy to make with just garlic, olive oil, basil, salt and pepper. It comes together very easily. However, you can also add a full pesto to this salad. Or, just use olive oil with freshly cut basil. This is more of an idea for caprese than anything you have to follow exactly. I’ve even thought of doing with an addition of fresh peaches along with the tomatoes.
I have several pesto recipes here at spinach tiger. This is my classic recipe, but I’ve been replacing the pine nuts with roasted, salted macadamia nuts (about 1/3 cup). You can also use pistachio nuts as I did in this recipe. You can replace the basil with fresh mint as I did here.
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More Pesto Recipes from Spinach Tiger
- Snapper with Pesto
- Grilled Lollypop Lamb Chop with Mint Pistou
- Ricotta Peas Pesto Appetizer
- Italian Potato Salad with Authentic Pesto
- Party Caprese Salad
- Caprese Party Sandwich
- Chicken with Creamy Pesto
- Seven Herb Pesto
Corn Caprese Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 ounces Fresh Mozzarella or burrata
- 3 fresh summer tomatoes
- Pistou Recipe Below enough to cover tomatoes and cheese
- 1/2 cup Pesto or
- 2 handfulls basil
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cob fresh corn
Pistou
- 2/3 cups fresh basil
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/3 extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- If using large tomatoes, cut in thick slices, serve immediately.
- Set cheese out about 30 minutes in advance to enjoy the flavor and texture.
- Toss with cheese, olive oil, basil, salt, pepper or pesto
- Slice corn off of the cob.
- If using pistou or pesto spoon over salad, then top with corn.
- Season with salt and pepper as needed.
Pistou
- Combine all ingredients. Add salt as needed.
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